Google's Endgame

I've looked into the future and I know what Google is doing.  Google is going to redefine how we use electronic devices.  And it's pretty cool.

Disclaimer: I know Google doesn't really have a plan.  Most of their acquisitions over the past 5 years have been random, other than the fact that all the technologies are pretty cool, and some of their products never successfully integrated into the rest of the platform (like Google Earth).  I heard from an industry insider that one of Google's mottos is "plan less, experiment more."  I can't verify that this is really a thing for them, but it fits.

On the other hand, Google is capable of thought and planning deeper than anyone expects.  Just look at Android: there were intense rumors of a "Google phone," but the real surprise wasn't the phone itself, it was the platform.  Google beat Apple the same way IBM did; by becoming the industry standard.  Now it's the largest smartphone platform in the world, in a shockingly short period of time.

So, what's the trick this time?  They're going to erase the lines between your mobile devices.  I'll explain.

In the past few years there's been a lot of talk about the explosion of new electronic devices.  We used to just have a computer and maybe a PDA; now we have a desktop, laptop, smartphone, iPod, tablet, and netbook.  Every device has a different interface and different capabilities.

Not any more.

The first step was Chrome OS.  They're selling them now, and they're awesome.  But the real value is the proof of concept: all you really need is a web browser.  Think about it for a minute: your email is online.  So is your address book and calendar.  Videos, music, and photos are all online.  You don't need apps for any of these things; it's all done through a web browser.  The point of Chrome OS is that you can literally strip away the rest of the computer, leaving nothing but a web browser, and still do everything.

But how does that solve the bigger picture?  Well, we're already halfway there: if all you need is a web browser, then that means you're using the same website for email, whether you're on your computer, netbook, or tablet.  But now we come to the dreaded "mobile browsing experience" - websites that are designed to look and work differently on mobile devices.

Google's solution, as usual, is to do the obvious.  In this case: make all the websites the same.  They've unveiled their new design for Gmail, Google Calendar, Maps, and Search.  In fact, this isn't really a secret; they've talked about it in the official Google blog.  They're spacing things out and changing sizes so it'll look good on a large screen or a small screen.

So, what is the endgame?  A completely unified user experience, no matter what you want to do, no matter what device you use.  Everything you do is online, and it looks the same no matter where you are.

That's pretty amazing when you think about it.  Like, this is what the future is supposed to be.  It's like last week when I used the same transit card all the way across the Bay from Berkeley to San Francisco, even though I was riding on three different transit agencies.  It doesn't matter any more, because the transition is seamless.  All I need to do is go from Point A to Point B, and the technology follows, quietly enabling me to do whatever I want, wherever I want.

It strikes me that my blog posts about Google are getting more and more worshipful.  But I don't see it so much as me being a fanboy, but rather that Google continues to consistently earn my praise.  When they start screwing up, I'll let you know.